Shaun T is well known for his fitness videos Insanity and Hip Hop Abs as well as being a choreographer for artists like Mariah Carey. In college after gaining over 50 pounds during his freshman year, Shaun decided to take action and start living a healthier life. Since then he has been on many shows like The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Talk, and The Tyra Banks Show to showcase his workouts. Now Shaun wants to take his message nationwide on the Zero Excuses Tour with Powerade. Before he set off for his tour, he and I had the chance to speak about his training, tour, and he gave me some fitness tips.
AE: You are teaming up with POWERADE ZERO to go all around the country to perform public workouts. Tell us about this program.
ST: Yea with Powerade it is basically two things we are doing. We are going around the country to say there are no excuses for not working out. There is zero excuses. You can work out many different ways. You can work out to have fun. Even though my workouts are intense, I am a pretty fun guy with my method in what I teach about weight loss and staying healthy and fit with Powerade Zero. I talk a lot about not drinking your calories. This is a great product that you can have to have zero calories. Not drink your calories, but still get great hydration. Get the electrolytes. The sports drink is really good. Some people might say, “Oh you are just saying that.” But no I really like the blue drink.
The event is gonna be fun. I think it is gonna be really cool. You don’t have to bring your water bottle that day. Just come in and Powerade Zero is gonna be right there for you. I think it is going to be super fun. People are going to get to experience me live and with the energy of what Powerade has to bring. It is going to be a great team effort. I think people are going to leave really happy and excited and hopefully inspired to work out more.
AE: What part of the day is the best time to workout?
ST: The best time to workout is when you have the most energy in a day. Some people are morning people. I am a morning person. The earlier I workout the better. But then there are some people that don’t want to be talked to in the morning so a lot of times they like to workout in the afternoon.
If I could give my opinion the only reason why I really like working out in the morning besides the fact I have more energy is just that I get it done. I get it out of the way. It fuels my energy for the rest of the day. Because after you workout too sometimes you want to eat healthy. It fuels you to eat healthy and to make good choices. It opens your brain in the morning and you can function well.
Some people can’t workout till late and then you are hungry and then you are eating late. If you feel good working out late and that motivates you by all means do it. I just kind of have something that I like to throw peoples way so they can get another view.
AE: What made you get into the fitness world?
ST: Even though I was an athlete my whole life. I played football, basketball, and track and field, those were my sports. I actually went to college and I gained the freshman 50. So I gained a lot of weight my first year cause I was focused on academics. After that I really appreciated what health and fitness did for me in my earlier years. I really wanted to feel good like that again. Experiencing the quote, unquote not happy with my body feeling, I wanted to inspire people to be like you know what, you can be happy and fit and healthy with your life. So it is truly my passion to motivate people to be a happier, healthier them. From that experience that I had in college I got into the fitness world. I started teaching classes, personal training, actually became a professional dancer and choreographer. I took some of my sports training that I did in college too and created Insanity and Asylum. So I do what I do because I love to help people.
AE: Out of all the fitness videos that you have done do you have a favorite?
ST:I have three favorites. I am going to give you all three. Plyometrics Insanity, plyometrics cardio circuit is the worst nightmare of your life. That’s why I like it. I know it might sound very crazy, but that is why it is part of the Insanity. Pure Cardio because there are no breaks. It is the only workout DVD that I have done where I only gotten through it once. I have only gotten through it one time without stopping. The rest of the time even after four years of Insanity I still die. My favorite long workout is Max Interval Plyo just because I think it is absolutely mayhem. It is very hard. The harder it is the better to me as long as I can functionally do it and have good form.
AE: What would you recommend for someone who does not have a lot of time in their schedule to workout on a regular basis?
ST: First rule of thumb, workout to something that you are actually going to enjoy and have fun with. Because if you don’t like it you are not going to do it. Second thing is that I can specifically talk about Insanity. You know the reason why I did Insanity and I created a fit test is because it shows the results that you are having not just physically but mentally. It also shows you if you are doing more reps of a specific exercise that you may have thought that it was really difficult two weeks ago. So if you make up something that is going to measure your success then stick with it for two weeks. You might say this is really hard, but I am doing more and I am staying more committed to my routine. Gather some friends and get people who you know who want to workout too. People have a lot of workout groups. If there are a lot of people counting you to be there it is more likely for you to stay there.
AE: What was the worst excuse that was given to you about not working out?
ST: I think you stumped me there. I think I hear so many excuses that I am so numb to them all. Zero excuses, lets get it going. Get into it. I am not boasting, but I love what I do. I love when people come out to see me and workout with me. I just love it. I think it is such an amazing thing. Then you have Powerade there and they are preaching zero excuses. So you got two major people that are going to be there to motivate you. I am numb to excuses. There’s good excuses. If someone is not well or they are sick. OK I get it. Just to say, “Oh you know I really have a deadline at work.” I am like well in order to actually focus on that deadline you need some energy in your mind. So lets work it out and get into it.
AE: What will be the next fitness program that you will be working on?
ST: You know Art I like you and everything, but I can’t reveal that information.(laughs) But what I can say is that there will be more Shaun T to come. It is going to be a fun tour, but it is gonna be pretty much for the rest of the year. I am doing things in between there, so you know I’ll take my energy from the weekend from meeting all these people from the Zero Excuses Tour and come home and have some fun new ideas to create more things.
To hear the interview click here!
